These DC Supervillains Confirmed to Appear in Shazam! Movie

Dr. Sivana actor Mark Strong and the director on the role they play.

By Nick Romano

Updated: 23 Jan 2019 7:09 pm

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 6:00 pm

Warning! Some plot details ahead for Shazam!.If you keep tabs on the internet’s seedy underbelly of superhero happenings, then you probably heard the possibility of the Seven Deadly Sins from the DC Comics making their way to the big screen for Shazam!. Finally, IGN can confirm the rumors are true.

The Seven Deadly Sins will play a major role in Shazam! in that Mark Strong’s Dr. Thaddeus Sivana draws his power from them, IGN confirmed through an April 2018 visit to the film’s set. There will be much more to unpack at a later date, but for now, Strong says, “In the New 52 incarnation that Geoff’s [Johns] done, [Sivana] is a proper supervillain. He gets to fly, he can create electric fields in his hands and fire electricity. I love the whole notion that in his eye he has Seven Sins that manifest themselves at various points whenever they or he wants them to. So, it’s a good, proper supervillain.”

The eye he’s referring to is the Eye of Sin, an orb that harnesses the power of the Sins. Shazam!, which draws very much from the New 52 run, stars Asher Angel as Billy Batson, a foster kid and the Wizard’s destined champion. After fleeing a bunch of bullies, he’s transported to the Rock of Eternity. Now, by uttering one word, Shazam, he’s transformed through a bolt of lightning into a fully grown superhero capable of battling Sivana.

The Sins, trapped in statues on the Rock of Eternity, were spotted in the latest teaser for Shazam!. Director David F. Sandberg, who likened Shazam! to movies like Goonies and Ghostbusters, even singled out the shot in a post on Instagram. “It’s my monster movie that I’m finally making,” he remarked to press on set..

Just as Doctor Strange did for the Marvel universe, Shazam! will further open up DC to the concept of magic, “which is great,” Sandberg says. “It's like, ‘Well, how do we explain that?’ Well, it's magic so it's like, finally.”

“You just have to take the magic seriously and have it like a very real-world thing,” he continues. "You have to not have it feel too foreign or weird.”